Verizon confirms end of unlimited data plans

Confirming rumors that have circulated for months, Verizon Wireless says that Thursday, July 7 it will no longer offer an unlimited data plan for smartphones according to a report in FierceWireless.

The new plans will have 4 options:

$10 for 75 MB/month

$30 for 2 GB/month

$50 for 5 GB/month

$80 for 10 GB/month

Data over the limits will be charged at $10/GB.

AT&T charges $15/month for 200 MB and $25/month for 2 GB.T-Mobile charges $10/month for 200MB, $20/month for 2GB, $30/month for 5GB and $60/month for 10GB

The current unlimited data plan costs $30/month, so if you don't use more than 2GB your situation is essentially unchanged. 75MB is not a lot of data, but is probably enough for users who use email and little else.

The higher-limit plans begin to make sense (for Verizon) because they also apply to 4G access. The idea is that with the speed of 4G you will be tempted to use higher-bandwidth services, like video, more often.

The report also says that if you currently have an unlimited data plan you can keep it by upgrading to another smartphone. See details in the Droid Life blog.

There will also be changes to the LTE mobile hotspot service, which is currently free for 4G/LTE subscribers. Starting July 7 existing customers will be billed $30/month for unlimited hotspot service. New customers will be charged $20 for an extra 2 GB of data to be used for mobile hotspot service or any other data service. FierceWireless cites the Droid Life blog for this information.

Larry Seltzer is a freelance writer and consultant, dealing mostly with security matters. He has written recently for Infoworld, eWEEK, Dr. Dobb's Journal, and is a Contributing Editor at PC Magazine and author of their Security Watch blog. He has also written for Symantec Authentication (formerly VeriSign) and Lumension's Intelligent Whitelisting site.